﻿Ayr, occasionally in Lanark, regularly in nearly all the counties of sub province 28 ( see 

 his map, Ibis, 1865, p. 138), regularly in Stirling and Clackmannan, and perhaps every year 

 in Perthshire, where it is very rare." 



Mr. Thompson writes respecting its distribution in Ireland as follows (Nat. Hist, of 

 Ireland, vol. I. p. 369): — "It is nowhere numerous; as many individuals, however, would 

 seem to be distributed over districts favourable for their abode in Ireland as in any other 

 country. There is decidedly a partial migration or movement of these birds. They came 

 regularly every year about the same time in the month of August to ponds at our own 

 residence in the country, contiguous to the mountains, and elevated 500 feet above the sea. 

 They remained generally for about six weeks, and once only were seen in winter. Their 

 first appearance in the year 1831 was on the 4th August; in 1833 on the 14th; in 1834 on 

 the 14th; and in 1835 on the 17th of that month." 



Our friend M. Jules Yerreaux tells us that in France it is generally distributed and 

 breeds everywhere, but is now becoming rare in some districts owing to the superstition of 

 the peasants, who shoot and mummify the bird, believing that when hung up with extended 

 wings the beak will always point to the quarter from which the wind blows. 



Bailly says that it is resident in Switzerland and Savoy, but that it is more numerous 

 in the summer, a partial migration taking place in winter. 



Lord Lilford and Mr. Howard Saunders have both noticed the species in Spain, and 

 Mr. A. C. Smith records it as "common in Portugal." In Sardinia it is also common 

 according to Count Salvadori, and in Tuscany is a resident as recorded by Savi. In the 

 lately-published book on the "Birds of Lombardy " by Signor E. Bettoni, a figure of the 

 young bird is given and we are informed that it breeds in this country. 



Mr. C. A. Wright (Ibis, 1864, p. 73) says that in Malta the Common Kingfisher, 

 which is called by the Maltese Ghasfur ta San Martin, is "an annual visitor; generally seen 

 about the sea-shore in pairs. Arrives in August and September, and occasionally observed 

 in the winter months. One was killed on the 14th March, 1862. Said to breed here 

 sometimes." 



In Tangiers and Eastern Morocco, Mr. C. F. Tyrwhitt Drake (Ibis, 1867, p. 425) 

 found the Kingfisher "common and breeding." Both Malherbe and Loche record it as 

 common in Algeria, but do not state if it breeds, though no doubt it does so. 



To Egypt Ave believe it certainly extends, as Capt. Shelley obtained specimens which 

 appear to us to belong to this species, but at the same time Alcedo bengalensis also occurs. 

 Mr. E. C. Taylor, an excellent Field Naturalist, writing on A. ispida, states (Ibis, 1859, p. 47) 

 that he "saw this bird once only near Atfeh, a place where the Mahmoudeeh Canal joins the 

 Nile;" and again (Ibis, 1867, p. 56) he writes: — "By no means a common bird. I saw it more 

 frequently near Cairo than anywhere else." Now we think it very probable that the last-named 

 birds observed by Mr. Taylor were Alcedo bengalensis, for as observed in the account of this 

 species (vide infra) Mr. J. Keast Lord obtained at Shoobra, near Cairo, a specimen of 

 A. bengalensis with the longest bill we ever saw. Messrs. Eaton and Baird have lately 

 brought the little Indian Kingfisher from Egypt, but our friend Captain Shelley, who 

 specially devoted some time to the investigation of the subject, brought back several 

 specimens, all of which, however, apparently belong to the Common Kingfisher. It will, 

 therefore, be evident to Ornithologists that the reason of the occurrence of both species of 

 Alcedo in Egypt is veiled in much obscurity. For our part, we can only account for the fact 

 of one Naturalist meeting with one species while another equally meets with the other, by 

 the supposition that in Egypt the ranges of both species inosculate, and further, that their 

 occurrence is uncertain, each bird being more common in that country one year than another. 



The Rev. Dr. Tristram gives (Ibis, 1866, p. 84) the following particulars respecting 

 its distribution in Palestine: — " Alcedo ispida is scattered everywhere throughout the country 

 wherever there are streams, and also along the Mediterranean coasts ; but it is nowhere 

 very abundant, though evidently unaffected by climate, fishing ^differently in the little 



